The Jagged Alliance 2 "1.13 Mod" is an engine modification to the original JA2. Among many other changes, the AI has been vastly improved, a new difficulty level, windowed mode, support for resolutions up to 1024x768, a New Inventory system, and much of the data has been externalized. The mod does not change the original maps or storyline.

Key features can be read by going to the homepage wiki, but here is a rundown:

AI: They'll out flank you, and climb the rooftops to come after you or to kill you from a distance with Sniper Rifles.

Externalized Data: Enemy patrols, Movement costs, shopkeepers, army compositions, garrisons, and more has been externalized. The major feature here, is item externalization. The original game was limited to 350 different items, that cap has been removed and all item data has been externalized. Now, there are over 1000 different items in the game, and many of those are weapons.

JA2_Options.ini: The options file for the non-modder (Current release also includes an INI editor to simplify things even further). This file contains options to control many different aspects of gameplay and speacial features. Here, you set how many IMP's you're allowed to hire, whether or not AIM Mercs die while on assignment elsewhere, the detail level of enemy soldier information available to you, how fast militia are trained, whether or not you can train them to move about freely, and how often you want to experience weather in the game. For a complete list, you'll have to check out the ini file.

New Inventory System: The New Inventory System uses LBE's (Load Bearing Equipment) to expand and change your merc's Inventory. Standard equipment slots now include a Gun Sling, and a Knife pocket in addition to the normal Armor and Face Item Slots. All other equipment slots depend on various different vests, thigh rigs, and backpacks that you can pickup or buy. The system may seem complicated at first, but many visual indicators help you to know where you can and can't put your gear. The new inventory system allows you to carry a wider variety of equipment, but in some cases less quantity than the original inventory system. The original 12-slot inventory is still available, and you can choose between both systems when starting a new game.

Bobby Ray's: Bobby Ray's now has many different filters and sorting options, and there are 4 levels of gear you can choose from when you start a new game, they range from Normal to Awsome level where all items are available at BR's from the beginning. A great way to try out those hard to find favorite weapons.

Other features include:

- Weather effects, rain messes with your aim, and Lightning can reveal your position in nighttime combat!
- Full Auto-Fire in addition to Burst and single shot weapons.
- Chance To Hit indicator above the targeting cursor.
- NEW M.E.R.C. Mercs from UB (Unfinished Business)
- Roaming Militia Patrols.
- Give orders to Militia during Tactical Combat!!
- Vehicles have inventories.
- Increased number of possible Tilesets to 255, UB Tileset pack downloadable as an option for Modders.
- New Map Editor supports the externalized Items and expanded tilesets.
-UB style IMP generation, No more questionaire for pseudo-random abilities.
- Grenade launchers with Burst capability.
- Items (typically armor) that give Camoflauge bonus.
- Capability of readying a weapon without firing it (Raise the weapon one turn, save a few AP on the next when you fire at your target, and also take advantage of Sniper Scope vision range increase)
- IMP Files are now stored by name, and instead of using XEP624 or 90210, you can type in the nickname of a previously created merc, and automatically have him added to your team!
- Tool tips have been added to give important information about items without having to right-click on them to see the details. You can even get information on equipment the enemy is carrying!
- Added a number of new ammo types and explosion types such as tracer ammo, and explosions that cause spreading fire.
- Soundmanager now supports MP3 and OGG sound formats

- Multiplayer development was finalized and is currently in the SVN project and will be part of the next official release.

This feature allows:
- 4 players to fight cooperatively, on teams, or free-for-all in single-sector combat.
- Purchase mercenaries from AIM and MERC to create your team
- Use leftover cash to purchase gear from BR's online weapons store

- There are also a large number of features currently in beta that have not been added to the project's SVN repository, the following features are a part of Headrock's Mod called "HAM":

- Enhanced Description Box (Currently only functioning with the new inventory)
This new description box lists all of the stats for a particular item so you can easily compare
two items without digging through the XML files for the stats. - Externalized Mine income modifiers so you can increase/reduce the amount that Mines bring in. - Suppression Fire system has been re-worked (or Fixed) It now has a dramatic affect on combat, and may cause you to change some of your tactics. Settings related to suppression have also been externalized so that it can be customized.

- CTH indicator that was previously added for single shots has now been added to burst and autofire aiming cursors as well. There are two percentage bars, one for initial shot of the burst and the second for the last shot of the burst so you can see how your chance to hit is degrading as you let more bullets fly. You can also now aim at body locations with autofire.

- Roaming militia received another re-work that incorporates the existing balance changes and expands making their roaming areas game-progress dependant.

In addition to "HAM":

- The 100pt AP system is just about past beta and should be added to SVN in the near future. This project externalized all AP and BP values and is moving the AP system to a 100pt base instead of a 25pt base. This will allow a significant advancement in weapon/item diversification. And will also lead to advancements in arguing over why one weapon is better than another and should have it's stats changed.

- MORE Mercs MORE Enemies MORE Vehicles MORE!
SpaceViking is still working on the beta feature set of increasing the number of soldiers allowed per map, as well as increasing the roster size for more hired mercs and more vehicles. Current Features:

- INI setting to increase the max number of hired mercenaries from 18 to 32
- INI Setting to increase the max number of allowed vehicles from 2 to 6
- INI Setting to increase the max number of allowed enemies per map from 32 to 64
- INI Setting to increase the max number of allowed creatures per map from 32 to 40
- INI Setting to increase the max number of allowed civillians per map from 32 to 40
- INI Setting to increase the max number of allowed rebels(militia) per map from 32 to 64

In addition to these features in Beta, numerous bug-fixes have been added, including numerous bug-fixes for the Map Editor that comes with 1.13.

While there is still no ETA on the next official release (Last one was April 2008), development continues at a frenzied pace and more participation in Beta Testing will help speed things along.

Virtual File System (VFS)
o INFO: Using the VFS we have an elegant way for defining MOD hierarchy
o Additional INI Files (e.g: vfs_config.JA2Vanilla.ini, vfs_config.JA2113.ini) for setting up different MODs
o The file ja2.ini now contains a property called "VFS_CONFIG_INI" where you can select the INI of your MOD instead of the "CUSTOM_DATA_LOCATION"
o For additional informations on the VFS see "Docs\VirtualFileSystem_Setup.txt" inside your JA2 install directory

Multiplayer v1.2
o File Transfer for sharing files from the server with the other clients
o A lot of Bugfixes
o Improved GUI
o For additional informations on Multiplayer and File Transfer see "Docs\Multiplayer_*.txt" inside your JA2 install directory

*** New XML Editor ***
- Supports the 100 AP system
- Minor adjustments
Implementation for mouse wheel support
Implementation for mouse middle button support
Fix for adding on roof tiles
Fix assertion when leave editor mode
On saving map check of entry points are add
Fix for to many ToolTip messages in place walls
Fix assertion on loading map without entry points
Fix assertion in Sector Summary if DevInfo directory not exist
Fix for problem of losing map edgepoints
Fix problem with losing stuff from LBE
Fix crash in meanwhile

*** New INI Editor ***
- Also works as a MOD Loader.
- Supports 100 AP System (APBPConstants.ini)
- Configure and start JA2 v1.13 from the INI Editor

Improved Game Setting (Option Screen)
o INFO: Fixes corrupt ja2.set file by using ja2_settings.ini
o Fixed corruption of ja2.set
o ja2.set will no be saved to ja2_settings.ini
o A few more minor game setting fixes and error tracings

Real-Time Mode
o INFO: allows the player to stay in real time while unnoticed by the enemy. While observing enemies in real time, the player may enter turn-based at will.
o ALLOW_REAL_TIME_SNEAK, QUIET_REAL_TIME_SNEAK (see ja2_options.ini -> [JA2 Tactical Settings])
o Ctrl + x: While observing enemies in real time, enter turn-based mode. Does not work if no enemies are seen, inactive if RT sneaking is disabled.
o shift + Ctrl + x: Toggle the real-time sneaking mode on/off. Enters turn-based if the player can see an enemy. Toggling it back on in turn-based, while stil unseen by the enemy does NOT revert to real time - turn-based will continue until the player no longer sees any enemies.

For those of you still using the 2085 because you're patiently waiting for me to post the newest version... I posted a link to download the full 2975 version a few posts down. Here are some of the features waiting for you in the latest version:

- added INI option for new tracer bullets (USE_BULLET_TRACERS)
- Enhanced Description Box (by Headrock)
. Can be toggled on/off in the game settings
. Can be customized in the ja2_options.ini (USE_ENHANCED_DESCRIPTION_BOX)
. Further infos: Bookgallery.co.il
- 100 AP System
. Now the default system
. Can be changed back to 25 AP System in the Data-1.13\APBPConstants.ini
. Just change the property AP_MAXIMUM = 100 to AP_MAXIMUM = 25 and you have the 25 AP System back
- Space Viking's many mercs changes plus numerous generic bug fixes
- AI Viewer: To use the AI Viewer build a Debug Version, go to the Strategy Screen and press F12
- Quest Debug System: Quest Debug System dialog is opened by switching to the Tactical screen and press F11.
- New option screen with "Next" and "Prev" button. This allows "unlimited" of options in the option screen
- "Forced turn base mode" option in the option screen and also available via keyboard shortcut (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+T) in tactical. This forces the game to go in turn based mode when there are enemies in the sector.

The 2085 version hosted here is out of date. I will get a new version posted in the next couple of months. In the meantime, you can visit the forums and find some of the newer versions with many bug fixes and newer features including better Multiplayer support.

I have a little problem though...I'm in Alma right now and I want to finish the bloodcat quest. However, everytime I go there, I get the "You entered a bloodcat cave." message, but when I enter the sector, there are none. If I click the sector again in the map screen, I get the "PC fight/go to sector" dialog about 2-3 times, and then it's gone (as if the game needed some time to realize that there are no enemies).